fellowship experiences

fellowship update: from the archives to wikipedia

Here at MIT we have a lovely intersession period know as Independent Activities Period (IAP). During the month of January, there are a range of courses or activities available for credit or for fun. Activities can be submitted by staff, faculty, or students. Greta Suiter (MIT’s newly appointed Collections Archivist) and I are teaming up to offer a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon session designed to enhance representation of women on Wikipedia. Our particular focus is women who were associated with MIT at some point during education or career—a list of articles we plan to improve can be found on our meet up page. Some of the women listed are represented in the IASC collections while others are simply alums.

The preparation for this edit-a-thon has been a great way for me to learn about the IASC collections and women’s history as it pertains to MIT. I’ll provide a recap of the event after it takes place, but for now I wanted to share some anecdotes about MIT women that I’ve learned so far. The following tidbits come from MIT student Marilynn Bever’s thesis titled “The Women of MIT, 1871 to 1941: Who They Where, What They Achieved” (approved 1976).

Alice G. Bryant (class of 1886) was a physician who specialized in the treatment of ear, nose and throat diseases. According to Bever’s thesis, she was the first woman physician to do so.

Anne Graham Rockfellow (class of 1889) lived in Arizona and was a well-known architect. She designed the YWCA and the YMCA as well as the El Conquisator Hotel.

Hope Wentworth Narey (class of 1899) was a professor of physical education at Mt. Holyoke College.

Edith Clarke (class of 1919) worked in the engineering department at General Electric and served as professor of Electrical Engineering at U-Texas-Austin.

Dorothy Quiggle (class of 1926) was a professor of chemical engineering at Penn State. In 1939, she was awarded a patent for a solution to rapidly remove free oxygen from gases.

Charlotte Winnemore (class of 1930) worked as Medical Director of the Planned Parenthood Association in Columbus, Ohio from 1947-1965.

Leslie Bradley Cutler (class of 1928) was a politician in Massachusetts. She was the second woman elected to the MA State Senate.

Greta and I have also dipped our toes into creating a few Wikipedia articles. We want our IAP session to focus on adding references and verifying information rather than building articles from scratch, but this has required that we create articles for some women missing from Wikipedia. The following list includes the articles we’ve created in preparation for out event: